To allow communication between the various nodes of a network, the are address of a node should be discoverable when a new node is added to the network. Unfortunately, in some networks, the discovery and identification of new nodes is a tedious manual process. For example, in some types of networks, each user must call the service provider and provide the MAC address for their user equipment and wait for the address to be registered before they can begin use.
Additional problems may exist. A point-to-multipoint network may be a network where a node or device is able to directly communicate with two or more other nodes or devices. A point-to-multipoint network typically includes a portion or segment of the network that is shared or accessible by multiple nodes. In some types of networks, such as point-to-multipoint networks, there exists the possibility that two or more nodes or users may transmit at the same time, creating a collision of data signals on at least a portion of the network. A problem arises in some networks because one or more nodes may be unable to detect such a collision.
In addition, there are many failure mechanisms that can cause a user or customer equipment to send faulty packets or transmit incorrectly. Faulty packets or packets sent by malfunctioning equipment on some networks, such as point-to-multipoint networks, can sometimes create a storm of data and/or collisions on the network.
Therefore a need exists to provide a technique to isolate and address malfunctions or faults in a network.